Time for Premier to get it right

Oakville Beaver

As our friends to the south find themselves at the edge of the much ballyhooed ‘Fiscal Cliff’, families in Ontario are staring over a precipice of their own — rotating strikes, withdrawal of teacher support for extracurricular activities, a.k.a. the Education Cliff, brought to you by Premier Dalton McGuinty.

Teachers in Ontario have announced various job action strategies in response to having Bill 115, the Putting Students First Act, shoved down their throats.

This half-baked legislation is nothing more than a public relations stunt gone horribly wrong for the McGuinty Liberals.

Banking on public support for fiscal restraint on the backs of our educators to essentially pay for previous government sins (e-Health, ORNGE, power plants, to name but a few) shows how out of touch the Premier is with the citizenry.

The government’s attempt to tear up collectively-bargained contracts, well prior to their expiration, flies in the face of our democratic principles.

Educators have no choice but to use the means at their disposal to highlight their contributions to our children above and beyond the classroom.

Participation in extracurricular activities is a major component of our children’s education.

Unfortunately, the actions of our prorogued Liberal government has put our children in the middle of this completely unnecessary fight.

It is time for the Premier to come out of hiding, recall the Legislature and make peace with our educators.